ipl-logo

Financial Consequences Of Prohibition In The 1920's

803 Words4 Pages

Women believed that alcohol caused abuse and poverty, so they were a major part of prohibition. Women also gained the right to vote because of Prohibition. This essay discusses the financial consequences of prohibition, the decline in tax income for the government, and the rise in smuggling-related crime. The United States and Canada were prohibited from manufacturing or selling alcohol after the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1920. The distilleries and breweries closed as a result of the prohibition. Which led to thousands of people losing their jobs, such as barrel makers, truckers, waiters, and other related trades. Prohibition had an impact on breweries and distilleries because of the ban on the production, sales, and transportation …show more content…

Doctors would also prescribe alcohol such as whisky or brady to patients to help them deal with trauma after the war; these were the only ways distilleries could stay open. “Only fourteen of the forty-nine brewers were still in operation. The doors of thirty-five Ontario breweries had gone dark.” Bars were also greatly affected by prohibition due to their dependence on alcohol sales as their primary source. “As law enforcement officials shut down countless bars and saloons across the country, speakeasies sprang up overnight.” With selling alcohol being illegal, bars suffered; they would either be closed or transformed into speakeasies.” New York was said to have 30,000” secret drinking establishments and illegal selling of alcohol. Prohibition didn’t only take away their income, it also gave the owners a sense of paranoia and mistrust. With the law in place, lots of employees lost their jobs during prohibition, but others found employment in new areas. For example, law enforcement agencies hired additional personnel to enforce the prohibition law. Other jobs that were affected are bars, taverns, restaurants, and entertainment venues that relied heavily on alcohol sales. When it was banned, their businesses suffered, which

Show More
Related
492 Words | 2 Pages

By 1932, Americans had reversed the approval and disapproval making the disapproval rating had gone higher. Americans disapproved the prohibition because the criminality and murder went up, business’ were going down and it was impossible to enforce no alcohol. The rate of criminals went up leading to more murders when the Prohibition was enforced. Many criminals such as gangsters, racketeers, bootleggers, and dope sellers got “helped” out by prohibition. Especially in the Great Depression, were alcohol was even more wanted.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

In January of 1904, the majority of the country was drinking alcohol. Fast-forward thirteen years later on March of 1917, it seemed like some states wanted prohibition before it even started (Document M). Most businesses were suffering because alcohol slowed down the workers when drinking it during the day. Workers had to worry when going to work at night because of the dangers and accidents that took place near saloons.

Read More
555 Words | 3 Pages

Women and children who were part of domestic violence often blamed alcohol for the events they had gone through. Men who thoroughly enjoyed alcohol fought to get rid of the amendment. There were two sides of this new amendment one for and one against. Both had many supporters and both parties had strong opinions for it. However, at the end of Prohibition’s reign a strong consensus were strongly for the removal of this

Read More
877 Words | 4 Pages

Alcohol was one of the prominent industry in the United States. In 1914, the alcohol tax revenue reached 226,000,000. Prohibition’s supporters expected the rise in the sales of other products like clothing, household goods, and other beverages. Instead, it deteriorated other industries. Breweries, distilleries and saloons closed their doors.

Read More
767 Words | 4 Pages

Gangs started to pop up all over the country and made millions of dollars off of illegal sales. Instead of alcoholics there were criminal gangs, and organized crime was very popular. Alcohol-related deaths, health problems, and alcohol syndrome were big problems. People were still consuming even though The FBI was trying hard to stop it. At first, drinking rates went down by about 30%, but then they spiked to even higher.

Read More
263 Words | 2 Pages

The Prohibition Amendment, which took place in the 1920s, it banned the production, deal, and transportation of liquor in the United States and its territories, until its nullification on 1933. Imprudent utilization of liquor, basically by men, regularly brought about aggressive behavior at home, bad work execution, and inefficient spending of money on liquor, which was expected to be used on their family. Despite the fact that the Prohibition Amendment decreased liquor related results, it also brought out an increase in crime and economic problems. The launch of prohibition in 1919 produced several conclusions and issues in American culture.

Read More
1364 Words | 6 Pages

A problem with prohibition was the jobs it took away, “The act also banned liquor advertising, and the use or sale of anything that might lead to its manufacture,” (Smith 133). Also, vehicles that were once used for the transportation of alcohol were to be seized or destroyed. So, people whose lives once revolved around the profits from alcohol were left with nothing. The rise of bootlegging soon began. In the early times of Prohibition, citizens did whatever they could to get around the laws, and lawmakers underestimated the lengths people would go to obtain alcohol.

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

America was losing money by not having alcohol sales to gather taxes. Without these taxes, the United States lost lots of money. According to Document E, the people in Congress had known about these illegal alcohol sales and taxed the violators for their profits, America could have had as much as $200,000,000 dollars or more for emergency needs whilst repaying the current American debt at the time. The economic state of America caused Americans to change their minds about Prohibition because the United States was losing more money by the day because they didn't know about the sales of alcohol and the tax, they were losing from

Read More
2114 Words | 9 Pages

On January 16, 1920, America went dry. Along with the ratification of the 18th amendment on that day, the Prohibition Era of the United States began and lasted for 14 years long. The prohibition amendment ruled that the manufacture, transportation, imports, exports and sale of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes were all restricted or considered illegal. This unprecedented degree of government interference in the private lives of Americans brought irrevocable impact to the country since alcohol was one of the most significant pastimes in human history. However, its promotion was utterly loud in the society back to the 1920s, supporters were those who believed in absolute morality and those who would benefit from the absence of drinks.

Read More
958 Words | 4 Pages

This law started the decline in businesses among the United States. Since all of these businesses were unable to sell or produce alcohol, many of them closed down or had to find other items of interest, such as prostitution or gambling, to earn a profit and to keep their business open. Other businesses even had to start producing products such as cereal or ice cream. Though the nation tried to put an end to liquor, enough protesting changed the government’s mind as the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. “Liquor stores and bars reopened, and breweries that had been converted into cereal plants or ice cream factories returned to the beer business” (Currie, 65).

Read More
1197 Words | 5 Pages

“Thus came prohibition to the United States. Middle-class Americans—striving to revitalize and preserve American democracy and to usher in a new era of humanity, achievement, and progress—turned to prohibition as one device to achieve their goals.” (Callow) The Prohibition was a time where in the United States the sale and consumption of alcohol was illegal from 1920-1933. It was the 18th amendment which prohibited alcohol in the United States and it states, “The manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”

Read More
536 Words | 3 Pages

Prohibition in the United States was seen as a “Noble Experiment” by the Federal government as it was seen as a way to reduce or eradicate any case of crime as well as to improve the livelihoods of many Americans. However in the end you can't stop people who enjoy drinking alcohol on the daily. There were many reasons as to why prohibition came into effect notably having to do with housewifes and children as many of them were beaten and or killed with the death toll around 1000 per year although this is highly debated whether it was alcohol that caused these deaths or people's willingness to commit such atrocious acts, this led to many to protest alcoholic products which is why groups were formed the “Dries” which were well organized and the “Wets” who did not function and since the First World War was in effect and many breweries were German this boded well for the wets as they had an excuse as to why alcohol was bad and how the soldiers needed a better home when they returned.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

The prohibition outlawed alcohol to try and diminish the crime rate. This led to a higher consumption of alcohol and illicit speakeasies. As fast as the police closed down one venue, more would spring up in its place (Prohibition in the United States). Government intrusion with the Volstead Act of 1919 outlawed beverages over 0.5 alcohol volume

Read More
239 Words | 1 Pages

The Effects of Prohibition in the American Society Prohibition in America was considered the war on alcohol. Prohibition happened from 1920 to 1933. People wanted to cut out alcohol altogether to try and better the United States. Prohibition leaders believed that once a businesses liquor license was taken away it would make people change their mind on drinking. Leaders had thought that the European Immigrants had brought their drinking problems across seas with them.

Read More
462 Words | 2 Pages

Prohibition led to the rise of organized crime and failed as a policy due to many loopholes and large numbers of corrupt officials. Though started with good intentions it was not a good policy because it destroyed jobs and attempted to destroy an industry. These reasons lead to Prohibition’s failure and the repealing of the 18th Amendment in

Read More

More about Financial Consequences Of Prohibition In The 1920's

Open Document